July 17th – Work Project Summary and Pictures

Article written on 2021-07-31 by: Adrian Meseberg

The following Thunder River work project summary comes courtesy of the United States Forestry Service’s (USFS) Tom Moris…

A total of 15 men (2 x FS personnel, 2 WDNR personnel and 11 Trout Unlimited volunteers met at 8:15
am at the Forest Service Lakewood Ranger Station for a safety briefing, volunteer form signing and other
logistics. At around 8:50 am we departed and drove to the work site which was about 25 minutes away.
Once we arrived at the work site everyone got to work as we split up into two groups. One group moved
pre-cut tag alder brush away from the river banks and placed it into piles 30-40 feet from the river. The
brush was cut to make it possible to fish along a ¼ mile section of the river.

The other group used their brute strength to move 15 pre-cut trees near the river into the river. The
trees had been cut into 18-22 feet lengths. After much work all the logs and their associated tops were
either in the river or on the river bank in select locations of deep water, these will be anchored into
place in the next couple days to create dark and complex cover structures where the big boys can call
home and lay ready to eat the anglers lure or bait in the future. We also moved 10 root wads to these
structure locations to be incorporated among the logs to add to the complexity of these cover
structures. In total there will be 8 large cover structures for trout and anglers to enjoy.

Thanks for your commitment to the coldwater resources

Forest Service personnel – Tom Moris and Cole Caylor

WDNR personnel – Sam Meleski and Brent Ritter

Trout Unlimited Volunteers – Pat Hill, Jim Vanden Branden, Dennis Dugre, Byron Dugre, Doug Seidl, Jeff House, Jon Ostanek, Jon Deuchert, Paul Kruse, Wayne Czypinski (Oconto River TU) and Adrian Meseberg (TU volunteers list added by Adrian Meseberg)

Respectfully,

Tom Moris

Check out the work day story-in-pictures below (pictures courtesy of Adrian Meseberg)…

The sun shines on our GBTU work trailer
Work project crew is ready to rock-n-roll !
USFS’s Tom Moris and GBTU Work Project Chair Paul Kruse share a laugh 🙂
Looks like we have evidence of Caddis flies…trout should be happy
First crew hauls Elm branches at Tom’s direction
Logs are placed against the banks to provide for trout cover
A canoe was also used to transport wood
What do we have here ? Looks like an old lunker structure. How long ago was this placed in the river ?
The second crew works to move cut brush away from the stream
Great work guys !
BEFORE PIC…Looks like this brush pile is too close to the river
These volunteers know what needs to be done
AFTER PIC…brush pile has been moved providing folks with an open stretch to fish
Sam M uses a chainsaw to to cut down stumps (no doubt with a joke or two from Pat H)
Uh-Oh…sorry Durge Brothers, but we do not have time for horseplay…
…now that’s more like it 🙂
Tom M and Cole C load root wads to also be used as trout structure
Tom M showing an example of the cables that were used to secure the logs/root wads in place
Work crew gathers for a well-deserved meal
Master chef, Paul K, prepares bacon cheeseburgers
Looks delicious !!
What is that Jon D…you would like to point out how the work looks once the water has settled ? (please see next pic)
Ah yes…this hole will definitely hold trout !
Looks like this work day was another Home Run…THANK YOU to everybody who made it out !!!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR THE COLDWATER RESOURCES OF NORTHEAST WISCONSIN !!

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